Posted November 23, 2009 10:04:00

New Moon’s complex love triangle involves a high school girl, a vampire and a werewolf.

The Twilight sequel has scored the third biggest opening weekend of all-time at the North American box office.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon earned an estimated $US140.7 million ($154.2 million) during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, crushing industry expectations.

The record for an opening is $US158 million, set last year by the dark Knight. the 2007 movie Spider-Man 3 follows with $US151 million.

New Moon replaces Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($US136 million) at number three.

The vampire romance is well on its way to exceeding the $US193 million total of its predecessor, Twilight.

Distributor Summit Entertainment says New Moon also set an opening day record with Friday sales of $US72.7 million, surpassing the $US67.2 million haul of the dark Knight.

That tally was bolstered by record-breaking midnight sales of $US26.3 million. the old mark was set earlier this year by Harry Potter And the Half-Blood Prince with $US22.2 million.

Summit says New Moon earned $US118.1 million from 25 foreign markets. Data from individual countries was not immediately available.

New Moon revisits the dangerous romance between high school student Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).

After falling in love with each other in Twilight, Bella and Edward break-up in New Moon.

Bella becomes close to Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), an American Indian who is also a werewolf. Jacob protects Bella, but she still longs for the gentle blood-sucker Edward.

Chris Weitz directed the $US50 million project.

Reviews have largely been scathing, but the franchise is considered critic-proof.

The films are based on a series of four novels by Stephenie Meyer.

- Reuters

Tags: arts-and-entertainment, feature-films, popular-culture, united-states

LOS ANGELES — “The Twilight Saga: new Moon” smashed the record for a single-day opening at the North American box office, and was on track to score one of the biggest weekend tallies of all time, according to preliminary data issued on Saturday.

The vampire romance sequel earned $72.7 million across the United States and Canada on Friday, a figure that includes record-breaking midnight sales of $26.3 million, said the film’s closely held distributor Summit Entertainment.

The old record for a single-day opening was $62.2 million, held by last year’s “Batman” sequel “The Dark Knight,” which went on to become the second-biggest grossing movie of all time in North America before accounting for inflation.

Such heights could be difficult for the “Twilight” sequel to attain. Still, industry observers expect it could finish up with upwards of $125 million for the weekend once Saturday sales data and Sunday estimates are issued early on Sunday.

That would place the film at No. 4 in the record books, behind “The Dark Knight” ($158 million), “Spider-Man 3″ ($151 million), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” ($136 million), and ahead of “Shrek the Third” ($122 million), according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

The previous record for midnight sales was held by “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which kicked off its run with $22.2 million in sales in July.

The “New Moon” predecessor, “Twilight,” released exactly a year ago, ended up with $193 million in North America after an opening weekend of $70 million.

The sequel revisits the dangerous romance between high school student Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).

After falling in love with each other in “Twilight,” Bella and Edward break up in “New Moon.” Bella finds solace in her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), an American Indian who is also a werewolf. Jacob protects Bella from vampires who kill humans, but she still longs for the gentle blood-sucker Edward who got away.

All the stars have become sex symbols, filling up gossip columns with their quotidian deeds, and fans lined up to see the sequel days before it opened.

The “Twilight” film franchise is based on a series of four novels of the same name by Stephenie Meyer, which her publisher says have sold 85 million copies worldwide. a third film is due out in June.

Valley fans line up for first ‘New Moon’ screenings

With nearly every ticket for the 25 scheduled Thursday midnight showings of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in Fresno and Clovis selling out long before the doors opened, local theater managers scrambled to add last-minute screenings to meet the demand.

It wasn’t enough to have a ticket for the latest chapter in the love story of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire beau, Edward (Robert Pattinson), based on the four-book series by Stephenie Meyer. Ticketholders began forming lines as early as 8 a.m. Thursday to get choice seats. Many fans purchased tickets when they went on sale in September.

Melissa Soriano was first in line at Regal Manchester 16, arriving at 8:30 a.m. to stake out a spot for herself and 17 friends. the 23-year-old Fresno woman, dressed in a black T-shirt adorned with Edward’s face, asked for two days off work so she could be one of the first to see the movie.

“I didn’t become a fan of the books until I saw the movie ‘Twilight’ last year,” Soriano said as she re-read “New Moon’ to pass the time.

Soriano’s group wasn’t the only one making an event of the “New Moon” opening. a survey by the online movie-ticket Web site Fandango showed 72% of ticket buyers planned to see the movie with a group of three friends or more.

The huge local turnout isn’t a complete surprise. last year, the Edwards Stadium 22 had the highest box-office totals in the country for midnight showings of the first movie in the series, “Twilight.”

The area in front of the Edwards theaters looked like a camp-out Thursday evening as moviegoers brought chairs, blankets, books and food to pass the time. Delaney Wiitala, a 16-year-old Sunnyside resident, was the first to arrive at 10 a.m.

The “Twilight” mania was repeated across the country. Fandango reported “New Moon” as the No. 1 movie for pre-sale tickets, passing such big film franchises as “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and “The dark Knight.”

“For many fans, it’s clearly the year’s most-anticipated film event,” said Fandango Chief Operating Officer Rick Butler.

More than 90% of ticket sales on MovieTickets.com were for “New Moon.” the Web site reported hundreds of sold-out screenings nationwide.

“By landing the Number 1 spot on our advance-ticket sellers list, ‘New Moon’ has broken a record that has stood unchallenged for almost five years,” said Joel Cohen, executive vice president and general manager for MovieTickets.com.

Twilight fans (and a few disgruntled looking boyfriends) lined up for hours Thursday to get the best view of Jacob’s new smokin’ hot chest and Edward’s hauntingly beautiful face.

Unlike previous midnight shows at the bad Axe Theatre, all who lined up were guaranteed a seat. Today’s early morning showing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon was the first time the theater has sold advance tickets, said mark Rolfe, theater owner.

“It went well,” Rolfe said. “I think we’ll do this again.”

The movie will remain at the theater for at least two weeks, Rolfe said, with show times this weekend at 4 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The schedule will change for Thanksgiving, so Rolfe asks that people visit badaxetheatre.com for the most up-to-date information. Rolfe said 268 tickets were sold for the midnight screening, and they sold out last Thursday. he said the tickets were on sale for about three weeks, and subscribers to his website’s e-mail list got early notice of the advanced sales.

As people arrived at the theater, they received a numbered chip from concessionist Anna Slavin, who explained the line rules to everyone. while people were required to wait at the theater, the chip allowed them freedom to move about without losing their place in line.

The first person in line, Taylor Krohn, 15, of Elkton, arrived at 3:20 p.m. Thursday. There were about 100 people in line by 8 p.m., and the block in front of the theater continued to fill with fans until just after 11 p.m., when moviegoers were let in the door.

Five hours before the movie was scheduled to begin, about a dozen die-hard fans had hunkered down with blankets and iPods, chatting excitedly and trying to keep warm.

“We wanted to see it real bad,” said Rebecca Schember, 15, of Elkton, who was the second person to arrive and waited in line with Taylor, her cousin.

“It looks awesome,” Taylor said.

“We planned this out a month ahead of time,” Rebecca responded.

Rebecca’s mom, Gail Schember, had the third space in line, but wasn’t planning to see the movie. She was holding the space for her other daughter, Isabella, who had an afterschool commitment.

“When Isabella gets here, I’ve got to get them some pizza … I still don’t know why I’m doing this,” Schember said with a laugh.

“Oh, you love us,” Taylor said.

“I know I love you, and you owe me,” Schember joked.

New Moon is rated PG-13 for mild violence, and it has a run time of 130 minutes.

New Moon director plans to quit Hollywood

New York: new Moon director Chris Weitz, who should be brimming with excitement that his film is already a sell-out before its release, is instead planning to retire from Hollywood. the Oscar nominated film-maker who has made films like About a Boy and the Golden Compass has been put off by the bureaucracy of big movie studios and says he would rather spend his time relaxing and learning new skills, MovieMaker magazine reported. every time I make a movie, Im pretty much convinced its the last time I’m going to be able to do it and that really its a rather silly occupation to undertake. but I think I have maybe one more film in me, Weitz said.

Johnny Depp is once more, the Sexiest Man Alive

Los Angeles: Move over Robert Pattinson and Brad Pitt, the Pirate has struck again. Hollywood heartthrob Johnny Depp has been voted this year’s Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine. the 46-year-old actor replaced last years winner Hugh Jackman to grab the coveted title for a second time, reported the magazine online. the Pirates of the Caribbean actor who recently topped the list of the Highest Paid Hollywood Stars was also voted the Sexiest Man Alive in 2003. the star has now joined an elite club of two-time title holders with only actors Brad Pitt and George Clooney having matched the feat earlier. in an upset for teenage girls, Depp nudged aside Twilight hottie Robert Pattinson for the coveted title. Kate Coyne, senior editor at People, said, Johnny Depp was someone who was sexy 10 years ago. He’ll be sexy 10 years from now.